Donald Trump: Armed Faculty Could Have Stopped Oregon Shooting

During a Saturday campaign stop in Franklin, Tennessee, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump spoke about the heinous attack at Umpqua Community College (UCC) and said lives could have been saved if the faculty had been armed.

Trump noted the attack took place in a gun-free zone, and he said things could have been much different if good guys with guns had been present. The Hill quoted Trump: “I’ll tell you, if you had a couple of the teachers or someone with guns in that room, you would have been a hell of a lot better off.”

In addition to this, Trump went right at those calling for more background checks in the wake of the UCC attack. Trump said: “[We already] have background checks in place — that was in 1998.” And he pointed out that would-be criminals are able to pass the checks from time to time.

By the way, the Los Angeles Times reports that UCC gunman Chris Harper Mercer got all his guns “legally,” which is indicative of passing a background check. But none of this kept the students safe. Breitbart News previously reported that background checks do not and cannot stop potential criminals from buying guns — they only stop convicted criminals from doing so. Because of this, people with no criminal or mental record can buy guns even some of those people carry a latent desire to rise up and kill innocents. Gun control will not stop such people from carrying out their evil intentions. What could stop them is a gun in the hand of a student with a concealed carry permit or a faculty member who is able to exercise their Second Amendment rights via Campus Carry.

And this is exactly what Trump is saying, and it is why he told the audience in Franklin that he is does not support the passage of more gun control laws. Rather, he pledged to “defend the rights of law-abiding gun owners.”